Digital sign advertisement selection based on mobile device activity

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to cooperation among computing devices to employ visually identifiable traits of a person and data concerning their online activities to determine subjects of interest to them and select advertisements. An apparatus comprises a processor circuit; an interface operative to communicatively couple the processor circuit to a network; and a storage communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and arranged to store a sequence of instructions operative on the processor circuit to: monitor online activities comprising interactions with a computing device via the interface and the network; store collected data about the online activities; store profile data comprising visually identifiable traits; detect a signage device; and form a link with the signage device via the interface and transmit the profile data to the signage device via the link in response to detection of the signage device. Other embodiments are described and claimed herein.

1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor circuit;   an interface operative to communicatively couple the processor circuit to a network; and   a storage communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and arranged to store a sequence of instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 monitor online activities comprising interactions with a computing device via the interface and the network; 
 store collected data about the online activities; 
 store profile data comprising visually identifiable traits; 
 detect a signage device; and 
 form a link with the signage device via the interface and transmit the profile data to the signage device via the link in response to detection of the signage device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the profile data comprising an identifier associated with an operator associated with the online activities, and the instructions operative on the processor circuit to transmit the collected data and the identifier to a server in response to detection of the signage device. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to transmit the collected data to the signage device via the link in response to detection of the signage device. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the collected data comprising at least one of an identity of the computing device, text information sent to the computing device, or an identity of an object visually presented on a display of the apparatus. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 analyze the collected data to derive a limited data comprising a word vector reflective of the online activities; and   transmit the limited data to the signage device via the link in response to detection of the signage device.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to receive data indicating a geographic location of the signage device from the signage device via the link, and store an indication of the geographic location of the signage device in the collected data. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , comprising a global positioning system (GPS) interface, and the instructions operative on the processor circuit to operate the GPS interface to identify a geographic location of the apparatus and store an indication of the geographic location in the collected data. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the visually identifiable traits comprising at least one of an age of the operator or a gender of the operator. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , comprising controls, and the instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 present a request for data about the operator;   receive a signal indicative of operation of at least one of the controls to provide data concerning the operator; and   store the provided data about the operator in the profile data.   
     
     
         10 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor circuit;   a display;   a camera;   an interface operative to communicatively couple the processor circuit to a network; and   a storage communicatively coupled to the processor circuit and arranged to store a sequence of instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 detect a mobile device; 
 in response to detection of the mobile device, form a link with the mobile device via the interface and receive profile data comprising visually identifiable traits associated with an operator of the mobile device via the link; 
 receive video data from the camera comprising an image of visually identifiable traits of a viewer detected as looking in the direction of the display; 
 compare the visually identifiable traits of the video data to the visually identifiable traits of the profile data; 
 select a first advertisement associated with a subject of interest in response to a match between at least one visually identifiable trait of the video data and at least one visually identifiable trait of the profile data; and 
 visually present the first advertisement on the display. 
   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to select a second advertisement associated with the visually identifiable traits of the video data and to visually present the second advertisement on the display in response to at least one visually identifiable trait of the video data not matching at least one visually identifiable trait of the profile data. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 receive from the mobile device via the link a collected data about use of the mobile device in online activities comprising the mobile device interacting with a computing device; and   analyze the collected data to identify the subject of interest.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , the collected data comprising at least one of an identity of the computing device, text information sent to the computing device by the mobile device, and an identity of an object visually presented on a display the mobile device. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , the instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 receive from the mobile device via the link a limited data comprising a word vector derived from analysis of use of the mobile device in online activities comprising the mobile device interacting with a computing device; and   analyze the limited data to identify the subject of interest.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , the visually identifiable traits comprising at least one of an age of the operator or a gender of the operator. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , the profile data comprising an identifier associated with the operator, and the instructions operative on the processor circuit to:
 transmit the identifier to a server via the network to request an indication of the subject of interest; and   receive from the server via the network the indication of the subject of interest.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , comprising a GPS interface, and the instructions operative on the processor circuit to operate the GPS interface to identify a geographic location of the apparatus, and transmit an indication of the geographic location to the mobile device. 
     
     
         18 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving at a signage device a profile data comprising visually identifiable traits of an operator of a mobile device and a collected data about use of the mobile device in online activities comprising the mobile device interacting with a computing device;   analyzing the collected data to identify a subject of interest;   receiving video data from a camera of the signage device comprising an image of visually identifiable traits of a viewer detected as looking in the direction of a display of the signage device;   comparing the visually identifiable traits of the video data to the visually identifiable traits of the profile data;   selecting a first advertisement associated with the subject of interest or a second advertisement associated with the visually identifiable traits of the video data based on the comparison; and   visually presenting the selected advertisement on the display of the signage device.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , comprising:
 detecting the mobile device; and   in response to detection of the mobile device, forming a link between the mobile device and the signage device, and receiving the profile data and the collected data.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , the collected data comprising at least one of an identity of the computing device, text information sent to the computing device by the mobile device, or an identity of an object visually presented on a display of the mobile device. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , comprising operating a GPS interface of the signage device to identify a geographic location of the signage device, and transmitting an indication of the geographic location to the mobile device. 
     
     
         22 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , the visually identifiable traits comprising at least one of an age of the operator and a gender of the operator. 
     
     
         23 . At least one machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
 receive from a mobile device collected data about use of the mobile device in online activities comprising the mobile device interacting with another computing device;   analyze the collected data to identify a subject of interest;   receive a request from a signage device for an indication of the subject of interest; and   transmit an indication of the subject of interest to the signage device.   
     
     
         24 . The at least one machine-readable storage medium of  claim 23 , the computing device caused to:
 receive an identifier associated with an operator of the mobile device from the mobile device;   receive the identifier from the signage device in the request; and   select the subject of interest to based on the identifier.   
     
     
         25 . The at least one machine-readable storage medium of  claim 23 , the collected data comprising at least one of an identity of the computing device, text information sent to the computing device by the mobile device, or an identity of an object visually presented on a display of the mobile device. 
     
     
         26 . The at least one machine-readable storage medium of  claim 25 , the collected data comprising an indication of a geographic location to which the mobile device has been carried. 
     
     
         27 . The at least one machine-readable storage medium of  claim 25 , the collected data comprising an indication of a geographic location of the signage device.